Try and Stop Us Digest — August 31, 2026

Must Read

The Mail Ballot Mess

Trump’s Postal Service rule could bar millions from voting by mail — and postal officials themselves say implementing it in time will cause widespread errors. New York Times / Politico Playbook / NOTUS: "It's another blatant and obvious attempt by the Trump administration to pick their own voters," Arizona Secretary Adrian Fontes told Politico. A 35-year Postal Service executive predicted a 20-30% error rate under the compressed timeline: "I don't know how the hell they're going to do it... that would be a disaster." Michigan, where 37% of votes were cast by mail in 2022, would be an epicenter.

Trump's DOJ appealed the ruling currently blocking the rule while election officials warn the courts they're already out of time. New York Times / NOTUS: Vermont's Secretary of State told the court her staff has never even seen the new USPS system, days before ballots must go to print. "If the system fails, North Carolina may be unable to mail ballots to voters at all," warned a state official. The Supreme Court is expected to weigh the merits directly within weeks.

Democrats Are War-Gaming Every Trump Doomsday Scenario While GOP Candidates Call For ICE And Troops At The Polls

National emergency declarations. ICE at the polls. Seized ballot boxes. Election Officials Prepare For The Unexpected. CNN: "Let me just say that stranger things have happened, OK?" Trump said when a conservative commentator pitched him on declaring a national emergency to seize control of elections. "There's no power to declare emergency relating to our elections to seize ballots or do anything else," said Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action. "Courts are going to slap it down. We're ready to go fast."

In Georgia, Maine, and Michigan, GOP candidates have floated everything from the National Guard to ICE agents to off-duty cops at polling places. Democracy Docket: Georgia's Rick Jackson told a supporter he's confident Gov. Kemp will deploy the National Guard. Maine's Bobby Charles wants to call Trump's border czar directly: "I'm going to make an appeal for ICE and marshals to be at our voting booths." Michigan's Mike Rogers wants off-duty cops as poll watchers: "All you got to do is open your jacket and you see the badge on the belt, right?"

DHS Quietly Hired Another Election Denier — And She Wrote A Letter Threatening States

Karen DiSalvo spent years suing to ban voting machines and disenfranchise overseas voters. Now she works for DHS and metadata shows she authored Mullin's latest threat letter to the states. Democracy Docket: "The administration dismantled the election cybersecurity expertise built up during the past two administrations... and has replaced that expertise and credibility with conspiracy theorists," said David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. "Election officials of both parties tell me they can no longer trust the federal government as a partner in running secure elections."

In The States

MINNESOTA — Mike Lindell still won't accept his own election loss any more than he accepted Trump's in 2020 — and he's vowing to take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. NBC News / NOTUS: Minnesota's Supreme Court rejected his recount bid, with Chief Justice Natalie Hudson writing Lindell's claims "fail on the merits." Lindell told NOTUS he's filing Freedom of Information Act requests with all 87 Minnesota counties to pursue his own "independent investigation." "I'm willing to pay even more money. I don't care what it costs," he said.

NORTH CAROLINA — Republicans passed rules making it easier to toss ballots got, but they’re now on hold following public objections. Raleigh News & Observer: The GOP-majority State Board of Elections passed rules last month which would let a county board's Republican majority disqualify a voter's ID-exception ballot on a party-line vote. State law automatically triggers legislative review when a rule draws 10 or more written objections — and this one did. Gov. Stein called the rules an attempt to "undermine voters' trust that their ballot will be counted." Lawmakers have already left for the year and won't return until after November, meaning the rules stay frozen for this election.

TEXAS — Tarrant County wants to cut 92 polling places right as one of the closest Senate races in the country heats up. AP: "The most powerful people in this county, the most powerful people in this country, don't want us to be able to vote easily," said Senate candidate James Talarico. The NAACP and ACLU warned the closures would be "strongly felt" in high-minority areas.

TEXAS — More than 1.2 million Texans statewide don't even know their voter registration has been suspended. The New Republic: Suspended voters have until Oct. 5 to fix their registration — a deadline many won't know exists unless they check. The largest concentrations are in the state's biggest counties, including more than 129,000 in Dallas County alone.

WYOMING — In a break from the Trump-era GOP, voters ousted most of the far-right lawmakers who spent years trying to restrict how the state votes. Bolts: Seven of eight Republicans on the committee that reviews election bills lost their primaries. The GOP's new nominee for secretary of state, Robert Short, rejected the outgoing administration's approach entirely: "We should not be making it harder for legitimate citizens to vote."

What Experts Are Saying

A former chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission did the actual math on Trump's new mail-ballot rule — and it doesn't work. "At a minute each, that's 559.45 hours or 69.94 work days... A month of days of someone standing at a post office, watching a scanner. This isn't about ballot integrity. This isn't about non-citizens voting (which is vanishingly rare). This is about stopping absentee voting in its tracks." — Ann Jacobs, former Chair, Wisconsin Elections Commission, X/Twitter

NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie says Trump's mail-voting fight is one piece of an open conspiracy against the Constitution itself. "The president of the United States is engaged in a conspiracy against the voting rights of the American people, which is to say that the president is engaged in a conspiracy against the Constitution itself... It is important to say, as well, that this is all out in the open, as plain as day." — Jamelle Bouie, New York Times

Headlines

In The States

Fox News: RNC threatens legal action against New Jersey officials over noncitizens on voter rolls: 'On notice'

Democracy Docket: Second judge blocks Maryland Democrats' redistricting plan, but state Supreme Court will have final word